‘Myanmar has not stopped Rohingya rights abuses’
MYANMAR’S continued targeting of civilians in the country’s Rakhine and Chin states could constitute additional war crimes and crimes against humanity, the UN rights chief said on Monday (14).
Michelle Bachelet demanded action to remedy the serious rights violations suffered by Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.
Military operations in 2017 forced 750,000 Rohingya to flee from conflict-torn Rakhine state to Bangladesh in violence that now sees Myanmar facing genocide charges at the UN’s top court.
At the opening of the 45th Human Rights Council in Geneva,
Bachelet said the abuses against the Rohingya and other minorities in the country were ongoing.
“People from the Rakhine, Chin, Mro, Daignet and Rohingya communities are increasingly affected by the armed conflict in Rakhine and Chin States,” she said.
Bachelet pointed to “disappearances and extra-judicial killings of civilians; massive civilian displacement; arbitrary arrests, torture and deaths in custody; and the destruction of civilian property.”
“Civilian casualties have also been increasing. In some cases, they appear to have been targeted or attacked indiscriminately, which may constitute further war crimes or even crimes against humanity,” she said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights lamented that no concrete measures had been taken by the government towards accountability for the “terrible human rights crisis” inflicted upon the Rohingya by the military operations in Rakhine that started three years ago.
Bachelet said government administrators were now reclassifying areas where Rohingya villages were previously located, removing the names of existing villages from official maps and potentially altering how the land may be used.
“This should end immediately, and the prior situation should be restored,” she said.
Myanmar’s military has justified its 2017 operations as a means to root out Rohingya militants after attacks against around security posts and police stations.
Bachelet said that most Rohingya will also not be able to vote in the November elections.